Canister vacuum cleaners have long been known in the art to be useful for cleaning dirt and debris from bare floors, rugs, carpets and other above floor surfaces. Such vacuum cleaners typically include a canister assembly housing a dirt collection vessel and suction generator. In addition, such vacuum cleaners include a nozzle assembly, often equipped with a power driven rotary agitator and a wand and hose assembly for connecting the nozzle assembly and canister assembly. In one possible embodiment the wand is releaseably secured to the nozzle assembly and serves the additional function of a control handle for manipulating the nozzle assembly to and fro across the floor during the cleaning operation.
Typically the wand/control handle may be locked into an upright storage position. The present invention relates to a new and improved latch assembly for the wand/control handle. The latch assembly is displaceable between a locking position to secure the control handle in the storage position and a release position to allow full movement of the control handle into the operating position. The improvement comprises a structure allowing the latch to move to a control handle break-over release position which prevents damage to the latch assembly in the event the operator inadvertently forces the control handle into the operating position from the storage position without first releasing the latch assembly.